Court Orders Remand of EFCC Boss, Abdulrasheed Bawa To Prison

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Chairman Abdulrasheed Bawa was found guilty of contempt of court by the Federal Capital Territory High Court because his organization disobeyed a previous court order.

Justice Chizoba Oji ruled on Tuesday that the head of the anti-graft agency is in violation of the court’s decision dated November 21, 2018, which instructs the commission to give a requester back his Range Rover (supercharged) and the sum of N40 million.

Bawa continued to disobey the order until he absolved himself of the contempt, at which point she ordered that he be committed to the Kuje Correctional Center in Abuja.

Justice Oji also instructed Usman Baba, the Inspector General of Police, to see that the court’s ruling was immediately carried out.

The judge disregarded the justifications Francis Jirbo, the EFCC’s attorney, offered to support his client’s behavior.

The Nigerian Air Force’s former Director of Operations, Air Vice Marshal (AVM) Rufus Adeniyi Ojuawo, filed a move on notice, and the decision was rendered on October 28. A Certified True Copy (CTC) of the decision was observed by Channels Television (NAF).

Ojuawo had claimed in the suit that the EFCC had refused to abide by the court’s November 21, 2018, judgment-day decision directing the release of his impounded goods.